Am I seriously still pregnant??

Ok, first of all, HOORAY for 31 weeks 2 days! That is a big feat in my world...and frankly, it's kind of the push behind this next blog entry....But first, let's take a little walk down memory lane....

Finding out we were pregnant with triplets was probably the most memorable day in my life. Unfortunately, that excitement and hope were literally immediately dampened with the "suggestion" that we not attempt to carry three babies. It was too dangerous...we could lose one or all of the babies....I'm too small...we could lose me...there are too many problems that can occur...etc. "Gee! What a way to kill our spirit! I understand the need for the medical profession to offer that opinion to us, but seriously could it have waited even until the next appt.??

Anyway, after 6 more weeks of sheer agony trying to figure out what the "right" decision to make was (despite the fact that with every beat of those three tiny hearts, the decision seemed to be making itself clearer and clearer to us.) I'm telling you, it's the worst kind of battle...your head vs. your heart. Well, obviously our hearts won. Whatever risks might come along with carrying triplets were ok with us. These three babies were put in our lives for a reason and who were we to decide any differently?

Back when all three babies could fit on the same screen....how precious are they??

So we braced ourselves for every "possible complication" in the book. (And there are quite a few, let me tell ya!) And then we began living one day at a time. Setting small, attainable goals for the pregnancy.

Getting past the first trimester?... Check!
Getting to week 20?.... Check!
Getting to week 27? ....Check!
Mom gaining weight?... Check! (45 pounds to date, by the way!)
Babies gaining weight? ....Check!
Mom's blood pressure in tact and ok?.... Check!
No stretch marks?.... Check! (Sorry, I had to throw that one in!)
Passed my glucose and all other blood work tests?....Check!
Get to week 30 and watch Dr. M. do a cartwheel?...Check!
(Well, he said he'd do it...we're still waiting.)

Literally, I have been blessed with an amazing triplet pregnancy.I have had no reason to complain.

Until now. Now I want to complain. Just a little. :) I am 31 weeks and 2 days pregnant and I now, I am tired. My body is tired. At my checkup last Thursday, Dr. Maciulla looks at me with admiration at how well I'm still doing and says, "How are you still pregnant???" Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me!! "BECAUSE YOU WON'T TAKE THESE BABIES OUT" I say! :) Now don't misunderstand me, I fully understand that the longer these babies can stay inside, the better off they will be. I do not want to harm them in any way. So we discuss the upcoming "delivery" whenever that shall be, and we decide that it would be a good time for me to start taking steroids....That's right, me and A-Rod! Except these steroids, he promises, will NOT make the babies or me look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Instead they will help complete the maturation process of the babies' lungs, should they be born early...(which they obviously will.) So I'm totally game for that! Whatever can be done to help those babies breathe on their own is a blessing. "So how do we do this," I ask?

"Well, unfortunately," says Dr. M. "it's a series of 4 shots in the butt." (pause, pause, pause...I think he was waiting for me to freak out.) Seriously? Just 4? Piece of cake...shots in the butt, as you'll all recall are old hat for us. The unfortunate part is that it's 4 shots, 12 hours apart, EACH.

Which meant the very next morning at 9:00, Friday, off I marched to UMC for shot #1. Then again at 9:00 that night. Again, 9:00 Saturday morning, and finally, 9:00 Saturday night. Aside from the benefits of the shot, several other good and interesting things came from these outings:

1. The first nurse to give me shot #1 ALSO has triplets (2 Boys and a girl) which she delivered at UMC, with Dr. M. at 34 weeks....coincidence? Who knows.... :) So it was fun to talk to her!

2. Brian discovered that Jimmy Johns, a local gourmet sandwich shop and some Barbecue Joint (the name is escaping me) delivers to UMC! Yahoo! Good information to know when you expect to be at the hospital for a while....

3. And weird of all weirdness...the night of shot #2, I check in and the very friendly Unit Coordinator, Abigail, runs my paperwork and hands it to the nurse in the next room..."Ok, you can go in now" she says! So in we go! The nurse hands me the paperwork and says check the label up top and make sure it's the right patient...I quickly scan the paperwork....Patient Name: BUNCH, AMY. "Yep! It looks good to me! Unless you care that my name is spelled A-M-I, not AMY" I say. "No prob says the nurse! We'll just make that change when we're done." Super! Well, good thing my trained observer of a husband was with me this time. Just as I'm getting ready to show night nurse #2 my bull tattoo, I hear Brian say, most inquisitively, "Um, should this be her birthdate?" To which the nurse replies, "Yes....is it not?" And now Brian, a little too excitedly I believe, says, "NOT EVEN CLOSE!" lol...This girl was born in 1986! Isn't he sweet? So anyway, he goes back out to try and clear things up and lo and behold, THERE IS ANOTHER AMY BUNCH in UMC, in the LABOR & DELIVERY wing right now!! Is that weird or what??

So anyhoo...just thought I'd share those coincidences! So the shots went very well....but unfortunately they make you have contractions...uugh. So to counter that, I'm also taking a medicine which stops contractions, and also lowers my blood pressure....super! And I don't think I mentioned that at the last appt. I was also encouraged to take an additional Iron Supplement to boost my red blood cell count or something. Well, Iron makes you constipated apparently, so with that I get to ALSO take a product which they disguise with a neat name called "Colase". Yeah, I now know that Colase is really a STOOL SOFTENER. ( i prefer the much more adult friendly term, Poopie softener). And TWICE a day, no less! So that brings my daily pill intake now to 7 pills a day! Yes!

L to R: Prenatal Vitamin, 2 poopie softeners, 1 Iron Supplement, 3 Nifedipine...

Well I don't know if it was a combination of all that, or just being 31 weeks pregnant, but Monday, for the first time in 31 weeks, felt like the beginning of the end for me. My ankles rivaled the great Redwood Tree Trunks...
I woke literally every hour to go pee and could not go back to sleep in between because of this, my friend the elephant, who has decided to take up residence on either my spine or my lungs when I'm trying to sleep! My belly felt like it added another 10 pounds overnight and it hurt...basically, for the first time, I felt miserable.

It was the first time I questioned whether or not I could make it to 34 weeks. So putting myself on bed rest wasn't even hard. Every ounce of my body ached and hurt and I couldn't take a deep breath....Poor Brian, god love, him practically carried me up the stairs to bed that night and the next as I cried uncontrollably trying to get comfortable....He even rearranged our living room and brought down one of the glider chairs in the hopes that maybe that would be a more comfortable place to spend the days...(and it has been). He has even unconsciously learned to push me up while in a deep slumber, when he senses my struggle in the middle of the night, trying to get get out of bed to go pee! Thank God for him...he is my knight for sure!

So let's end this on a positive note. I feel better today! A little more like my old self. I'm thinking we can make it a little farther once again...So please keep praying for me...pray that that elephant finds his way out of my bedroom and back to his own jungle! Cuz I've got babies to cook! :)